Mourinho: "With Benzema, I wanted to turn a talented player into a killer"
José Mourinho admits that he has fallen out with players from time to time but there was never any problem with Karim Benzema at Real Madrid.
José Mourinho admits that he has had his fair share of fall-outs with players over the years but says there was never any problem with Karim Benzema while he was at Real Madrid. Back in December 2010, Mourinho famously compared Benzema with Gonzalo Higuaín during one of his press conferences: "If you go hunting and you haven’t got a dog, if you have a cat, you take the cat. You can’t go on your own. And that’s a bit like what we have here. We have a forward, Benzema and we play him but if we don’t have Higuaín, we have a problem".
"I really enjoyed working with Benzema" - Mourinho
The Portuguese coach however says he never had any personal problems with the French stariker, he was only trying to get the best out of him. He told L'Équipe: "With Karim it was not a conflict. I just wanted to help the player - an incredibly talented player - to change his mindset, to help him reach his maximum. To become a killer, a determined center forward. I really enjoyed working with Karim".